Understanding trauma and the path to rehabilitation with reference to Harry Potter and Shiva Trilogy

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Origin and evolution

Relation between literature and human psychology is complex which cannot be unravelled and separated. Literature and Reality are considered to be the reflections of each other in their essence; the way reality creates literature, and the way literature influences reality.

The world is a massive web built by a diverse system of strings that is always branching and evolving, and this evolution process can be followed through literature. The psyche of human minds as individuals and as a society influences the literature produced, which in turn manipulates the human psyche. This research’s interest lies in exploring the literature that has had a notable impact on mentality through time and space, and how that mass mentality has, in turn, influenced the present-day literature, media, and society in totality.

Since the advent of Psychology; researchers from various fields have been exploring and establishing numerous branches of the study. One such branch is the focus of this research: Trauma.

Since its origin, the world has followed a fundamental practice i.e. war; be it for land, food, water, capital, religion, caste, creed, colour, gender, sexuality, nationality, species, language, clothing, rights, education; international wars, political wars, personal wars, financial wars, psychological wars, domestic wars; our world has been at war since its genesis and will continue long after we are gone.

Human forays into war and their effects on the world at both large and small scales can be found within the literature written around the times of a particular war. The collections of these recollections that influenced these literary works,the people who experienced those horrors first-hand, even second-hand, have affected the psyche of those who haven’t.

The literary works revolving around the trauma of war become sympathetic read for the ones who have not experienced the war themselves but have gone through some manner of trauma in their lives and that in turn affects the literature they create and hence, the cycle continues unbroken.

It was the effect of the World Wars that generated the urgent requirement of delving deeper into the psychological impact of the large-scale destruction and carnage on the minds of people who actually fought the wars on the front lines,as the lingering effects continued to plague them long after their return from the front lines.

Psychological trauma has been studied extensively since its genesis and has been interpreted and explained in numerous ways over time and critics agree that there is no singular explanation for Trauma that could encompass it in its entirety.

Trauma has been a subject of study as a component of various medical and psychological studies in the past. One of the earliest mentions of trauma includes the investigation of hysteria in women by Jean-Martin Charcot in the 1880s through his work with traumatized women in the Salpetriere hospital. He is attributedas the first person to have studied, documented and understood it as a mentalissue instead of the common belief that hysteria originated from the uterus,and to have established that physiological symptoms originate from psychological issues (Mohácsi, 2021).

The study of Psychology and its inclusion into literary works developed with Charcot’s follower Sigmund Freud’s forays into the inner workings of the brain in the form of a seedling that has slowly been growing into a vast ecosystem ofa tree, whose roots lie in his Psychoanalytical theory. The theory of psychoanalysis developed from the observations of traumatised patients and the conclusion that verbalizing the traumatic memories had an impact in alleviating the symptoms.

In simplest terms, Psychoanalytical theory states that: “Our childhood experiences and unconscious desires influence our behaviour” which encompasses the human psyche in its entirety. Freud postulated that these unconscious desires are manifested and can be recognized through our dreams. His division of the levels of consciousness has proved to be the paving stone in our current understanding of human behaviour (Abubakar, 2017).

The Psychoanalytical theory was introduced into literature in 1960s in the post-war era that advocated that following the same vein as dreams express unconscious desires and literary texts also express the author’s unconscious desires. A Psychoanalytical reading of the literary texts strive to uncover the inner workings of the author’s mind through the analysis of their creations.

While Freud’s major focus has been on the unconscious and repressed sexual desires, the consequent psychological theories, terms and definitions that have been formed, evolved from the theory of Psychoanalysis, and explore various aspects of the human psyche in depth.

Since a lot of the theories are interconnected and overlap at times, some of those theories would be used within the research to further enhance the understanding of the inner workings of the brain.

One of the notable contributions to the study of Trauma as its own study has been made by Sandor Ferenczi during the First World War. His work as a medical officer laid the foundations for his research into psychological trauma on the basis of his observations of the soldiers. His papers and fragments of notes that provide a deeper insight into psychological trauma have been consolidated by Jay B. Frankel in “Ferenczi’s trauma theory” (Frankel, 1998).

The terms ‘combat exhaustion’ and ‘shell shock’ were coined and used in relation to the experiences of soldiers in the world wars to describe their nervous symptoms in an attempt to understand the impact of their experiences in battle and their long-term consequences. The initial analysis believed that the soldiers went through extreme exhaustion due to physical stress and lack of sleep for the fear of the enemy and exploding bomb shells in the immediate vicinity (Mohácsi, 2021).

Freud’s statements on the recurring dreams of the war veterans in Beyond the Pleasure Principle as a means the brain came up to deal with the experiences which a soldier is unable to recall while awake, was later used by Cathy Caruth to build the foundations of Trauma theory. Freud believed that the mind experiencing such severe shock was unable to comprehend and process the event consciously, so it was pushed into the unconscious brain. The dreams became the only way for the brain to deal with the experience, which led to the repeated dreams until it was processed by the conscious brain (Freud, 1920).

Recognition of term PTSD by APA in ‘Diagnostic and Statistical Manualof Mental Disorders’: Trauma gained official recognition for the first time in the 1980s with the addition of the term PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) by APA in ‘Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders’. The term was used in relation to the returning war veterans and the lingering long-term effects of the battlefield they carried with them in the form of severe anxiety, panic attacks, flashbacks, hallucinations etc.

Sophie Isobel et al. have presented the problem with a definitive definition in “Psychological Trauma in the Context of Familial Relationships: A Concept Analysis” asserting that trauma does not exist as a unitary concept and this definition exhibits a massive potential for further exploration into the concept of psychological trauma. It puts emphasis on comparison and contrast between different definitions and terms of trauma in an attempt at understanding it, and quotes various forms of trauma definitions synthesised from literature, and insists on the impossibility of binding the overall concept of trauma into one definition (Isobel et al., 2017).

This research considers Psychological Trauma; trauma that has been defined by the APA Dictionary of Psychology as a guideline. Over time the definition of Trauma has been coalesced into a simple explanation by the American Psychology Association. The APA Dictionary of Psychology defines trauma as “any disturbing experience that results in significant fear, helplessness, dissociation, confusion, or other disruptive feelings intense enough to have a long-lasting negative effect on a person’s attitudes, behaviour, and other aspects of functioning. Traumatic events include those caused by human behaviour as well as by nature and often challenge an individual’s view of the world as a just, safe, and predictable place” (Baldick, 2008).

Traumatic event could be a war zone, an accident, an abusive situation, a culmination of stressful incidents, a natural disaster, a loss, a physical or emotionally threatening situation etc. Trauma is highly subjective and is experienced and perceived differently by everyone, and the intensity varies over a broad spectrumbut generally, the response to trauma often results in a feeling of breathlessness, shock, helplessness, dejection, dizziness, and being overwhelmed. A person may even have trouble processing the traumatic event. The response could be felt both immediately after the event, and even in long term. Trauma can affect a person adversely even long term. Sometimes, due to the persistence of these symptoms, trauma could even evolve into a mental health disorder known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Baldick, 2008).

Trauma in literature

The reality of trauma has been reflected in literature since time immemorial, even when there was no explicit recognition until a few decades ago. The concept of Trauma theory was first introduced into literature through the works of Cathy Caruth in the 1990s; who pioneered the Traditional Trauma Theory model, which views trauma as an event that fragments consciousness and prevents direct linguistic representation. This model was largely based on the works of Sigmund Freud (Caruth, 1996).

Cathy Caruth put a new spin on trauma through Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative and History where she explores the unspoken consequences of trauma on its survivors through literary and media works instead of using themas case studies from a psychiatric perspective. She explores the long-term effects of traumatic events and references to the works of Freud and Lacan to providean obvious insight into the causes and effects of trauma.

The Caruthian model of trauma asserts that trauma is a wound on the mind; invisible to the eye, instead of the visible wounds on the body, inflicted witha sudden abruptness that cannot be comprehended by the mind, and the consequent suffering is unrepresentable. “At the heart of these stories is thus an enigmatic testimony not only to the nature of violent events but to what, in trauma, resists simple comprehension” (Caruth, 1996)

This model was felt lacking in certain aspects towards the understanding of human psyche in its entirety and was soon followed by a new model with more wholesome concept that expands upon the previous model and makes an attempt at overcoming any of its shortcomings.

Trauma theory takes it a step deeper than the unconscious desires, and strives to uncover the trauma buried in the unconscious over time that affects a person’s quality of life, their actions, reactions and choices.

Since the introduction of the concept of Trauma theory into literature, the aca-demicians have started looking at literary texts with a new perspective, identifying the elements of trauma.

Pluralistic trauma theory

Pluralistic Trauma Theory suggests that linguistic fragmentation is just one aspect of trauma instead of being the centralised effect as postulated by Traditional Trauma Theory. It encompasses the traditional trauma theory approach and revolves around the foundations laid by the previous researchers. This approach provides a considerable amount of attention to the variability of traumatic representations, in terms of its causes, effects and expression (Balaev, 2018).

Michelle Balaev provides the lifespan of trauma theory from its genesis asa side note in Sigmund Freud’s research into the human psyche; follows it to its introduction into literature through the Traditional Trauma Theory model pioneered by Cathy Caruth and then to its present form developed by Criticism as Pluralistic Trauma theory in “Trauma Studies”.

Pluralistic Trauma Theory proves to be a more wholesome evolution of the numerous psychological theories, and focuses on the entirety of the broad spectrum of experiences that affect the mind negatively, instead of taking a comparatively narrower approach of focusing on one of the extreme aspects. This theory works as a conduit between the scattered aspects of all the psychological theories to create a deeper understanding of the human mind and provides clarity into its complexities (Balaev, 2018).

The Pluralistic approach to trauma attempts to cover the range of trauma from as severe as that of a war, sexual assault, an abusive situation to as mild asa day-to-day occurrence of social rejection, loss of a relationship or an academic setback. It focuses on an inclusive perspective that attempts to understand the subjectivity of trauma depending on the life experience of the subject in question (Balaev, 2018).

Harry Potter and Shiva Trilogy both portray the protagonists being elevated to the pedestal of the saviour, chosen one and a hero for the new world they have stepped into. The journey of these characters has a lot of similarities with Joseph Campbell’s depiction of a hero. Joseph Campbell chronicles the journey of a typical hero in stages (Polkowska, 2020). The first stage begins with the hero dwelling in the ordinary world, oblivious to any special attributes that might differentiate him from the masses. The next begins with the discovery of a world previously hidden from, where he belongs through his heritage. The discovery is usually accompanied by a call to take up arms and set off on an adventure to save the world. He is thrown into this new world with barely any introduction and instruction, only equipped with some sort of supernatural gift to aid him in his quest, and usually companions to help share his perils with. Next, he undertakes a perilous and often fatal journey rife with trials, character development, gaining wisdom and a final fight for his reward. Once the journey is completed and the goal reached, it’s time for him to go back home to the ordinary world again, having acquired enlightenment. Katarzyna Polkowska in “Rick Riordan’s ‘Percy Jackson’ as Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces” scrutinises the journey and struggles undergone by Percy Jackson in order to determine whether it fits the mould of a hero created by several schools of thought (Polkowska, 2020).

The twenty-first century has seen an integration of mythology into contemporary literature as an attempt at the revival of the oft-forgotten stories of older civilizations, the elements of which can be seen in the works of both the authors.

“Death as a Beginning: The Transformation of Hades, Persephone, and Cleo-patra in Children’s and Youth Culture” by Viktoryia Bartsevich et al. explores the representation of these mythological characters as depicted to suit present-day beliefs. The research focuses on the transformation of the mythological characters that used to be portrayed as intimidating and untouchable to their seemingly mocking present-day representations. While the Older texts present the mytholo-gical figures in an all-powerful, dangerous and downright scary light, Harry Potter is the prime example of modernising and using these figures as convenient to the plot. The Kraken has been depicted as the friendly squid, the Sphinx has been reduced to a piece of a game, the dragons likewise a comparatively tamer versionof the mighty beasts of the old, are just a task to be completed; while the bogeyman – Lord Voldemort, a human wizard has been demonized in comparison to seem a vastly more dangerous foe (Bartsevich et al., 2019).

Shiva Trilogy on the other hand is an attempt to view mythology in the currently understandable manner by moving backwards in time, attempting to humanize the Gods, and depicting their lives through the glass of human perspective. Amish Tripathi has given new meaning to the blend of myth and reality through the story of a man of flesh and blood elevated to the status of God through his Karma. The trilogy follows Shiva on his quest to provide better opportunities for his tribe, turning him towards the path of a Saviour facing the tests and trials in order to meet expectations and ultimately triumph. The work has been heavily influenced by Hindu mythology and the origin stories of the deities. Abhinaba Chatterjee explores the influence of Hindu mythological works in the fictional world created by Amish Tripathi in “Humanizing Theography through Mystical Mytho-logy: Amish Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy” (Chatterjee, 2015). In a similar vein, Dharmapada Jena has traced the elements of trauma depicted throughout the mythological texts and presented it through “Negotiating The Mahabharata asa Trauma Narrative” and “Narrative Tools and Strategies: Representation of Trauma in The Mahabharata” which paves the pathway towards the search forthe elements of Trauma in Amish Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy from both the moder-nised and original perspective (Jena, 2022).

J.K. Rowling has created a completely different world existing within our world that functions on the same foundations, but varies vastly in its integral structure. Her creation has seen a drastic transformation into the perspective of the general populace on everything ominous, different, and unexplained. Harry Potter has elevated magic from a feared phenomenon to a household conversation topic. It has also shown the magicals as sentient beings, just as we are who also feel pain, fear and happiness and can be recognized as good and evil as humans. They are also human who have magic but their magic does not solve all the problems with just a wave of the wand.

Nurul Fitri explores the life of Lord Voldemort from a Psychoanalytical perspective in “The Characterization of Lord Voldemort in the novel Harry Potter and The Half-blood Prince by J.K. Rowling Seen from Psychoanalysis” in an attempt to understand the antagonist, his motives, experiences, choices and actions. The research follows the life of Tom Riddle, abandoned by his father even before he was born; lost his mother during his birth and growing up in an orphanage, always vilified and bullied for being different; he grew up resenting others and once strong enough to turn the tables, turned into a bullying tyrant himself. Fitri delves into the experiences and motivations that shaped Tom Riddle from a helpless child into the self-fashioned fearsome tyrant Lord Voldemort (Fitri, 2018).

Both these works provide a peep into vastly opposing political scenarios, set in the ancient time and the turn of the present century. While the political and cultural scenario of Harry Potter follows along in the same vein as the corresponding society; Amish Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy explores the emergence of the socio-cultural transformation from the ancient times to the present.

You-shuan Shiong and Ya-huei Wang focus on the impact of the type ofreinforcement received during adolescence on the development of self-identity through “Trauma, Love, and Identity Development in Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” in a bid to explore the protagonist and his choices as influenced by the actions of others around him. The research focuses on Harry Potter’s adolescence period in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and the difficulties faced by him in the form of lack of a loving family, trials in a bid to survive and save an innocent godfather- his last hope for a family; and his perseverance into a healthy self-identity despite all the hardships. Puberty is a massive milestone in human life, even more so when one adds mythological aspects to said life. Harry Potter is no different than any other teenager in that aspect, and goes through really catastrophic and seemingly-catastrophic events (Shiong, Wang, 2022).

Identity crisis after a drastic cultural shift has been depicted in “Cultural Analysis of Amish Tripati’s Shiva Trilogy” by R. Devendiran and Dr. B. Kathiresan. Both these works begin with the character’s journey leaving their natural habitat towards a new environment. While Shiva migrates with this tribe to Meluha, leaving his harsh and exacting homeland behind completely, Harry must return to face the reality of his dismal home every year. Both have been offered better living circumstances and a chance at true happiness, but Shiva has mixed feelings before the migration due to his attachment to his roots, while Harry jumps for joy at leaving Privet Drive due to a less-than-ideal life.

Both these works imbibe the concept of the beast within as can be seen in researches “From Spirituality to Animality of Humanity: An Eschatological Study of the Shiva Trilogy” by Albin Shaju Paul; and “The cat who reads the map: Posthumanism and Animality in Harry Potter” by Jose Rodolfo da Silva.

These elements can be seen in the Shiva Trilogy through the Nagas, the deformed, the exiled and the outcasts, giving a visual representation of the spirit animal. The concept of the animal instincts has been a prevalent part of Hindu mythology, from the well-known Avatara of Lord Vishnu in the form of Narsimha, Lord Shiva’s incarnation as Lord Hanumaan and Sharabha to the actual replacement of the heads of King Daksha and Lord Ganesha with animal heads to resurrect them. Harry Potter depicts the essence of the animals through a Patronus that takes the shape of your inner animal, or the animal you feel most connected to. The ability to transform into an animal also translates the traits of those animals into the human form (Tripathi, 2010).

Society is an intricate web structure that functions in connection to each other as a whole, but that connection overlooks the broken strands on the edges as long as the structure remains intact. Hussein, Azmi & Al-Subaihi explore the multifaceted aspects of alienation and marginalization faced by various characters and species, its impact on the psyche, and the consequences at the edges of this structure through “Alienation in Harry Potter”. The article takes into account specific characters as examples of the alienation experienced by their entire species, such as the muggles and the house elves (Hussein et al., 2021).

Both the works also make ample use of ancient Greek myths, symbolism and imagery throughout the character’s journey. In “ ‘They like being enslaved?’ British Imperialist Rhetoric and the Wizards’ Hegemonic Discourse in Harry Potter”, Juliana Valadão Lopes analyses the oppression of subaltern species like house-elves, goblins and centaurs by the superior magicals and how the hierarchy is subverted by the subalterns. The focus of this research lies in the political and social interactions of different species, especially between those that can be categorised as the oppressor and the oppressed, such as wizard kind suppressing the centaurs, goblins, elves etc. and the actions of the suppressed species in order to combat their treatment (Lopes, 2019).

John Pennington investigates the presence of mainstream frivolity and fictional reality with a ‘no pain, no gain’ approach to magical fantasy fiction in “From Elfland to Hogwarts, or the Aesthetic Trouble with Harry Potter”. The article contemplates whether Rowling’s magical world truly forces the readers to broaden their horizons to look past the obvious and explore the hidden, or is it simply a different form of entertainment that plays on the fantasies of an active mind for popularity, the teachings forgotten as soon as the books are closed (Pennington, 2002).

Keeping to the present wave of mythology inclusion in literature, Saman Abdulqadir Hussein Dizayi explores the blending of the ancient and modern, realistic myth and mythical reality through “Mythmaking in Modern Literature: Harry Potter by J.K. Rolling”. The series consists of mythological figures, as a supplement to the major focus. The figures such as a cerberus, dragons, sphinx, death etc, are embedded in the story in such a casual manner that gives the impression of them being a normal commonplace occurrence within the magical world. The only real surprise felt at their existence comes from the muggle-borns and raised due tothe cultural difference (Dizayi, 2022).

G. Aiswarya and Dr. P. Madhan explore the depiction of mythological figures present throughout the ancient Hindu texts in “Mythology in Amish Tripathi’s Immortals of Meluha: A Study” (Aiswarya, Madhan, 2018).

Manasi Saxena explores the numerous aspects of death that can be seen scattered throughout the series in the article “Death, the Last Enemy: Grief and Loss in the Harry Potter Series”. This paper explores the various characters’ views on their deaths, the feelings attached to them, and the incarnation of death and its influence through the Tales of Beedle and Bard. The physical journey Harry Potter undertakes in order to defeat his enemy Voldemort by destroying his anchors of immortality is internalised to follow the process of loss, grief and healing from the deaths of his loved ones.

The transcendence of humans to ethereal figures can be explored in the mythical characters of Amish Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy. The works also follow the spiritual journey of the characters as an undertone that has been observed and explored through J K Rowling’s works by Signe Cohen in “The Two Alchemists in Harry Potter: Voldemort, Harry, and Their Quests for Immortality” (Cohen, 2018) and through Amish Tripathi’s works by Prof. Dr. Lata Marina Varghese in “Selfiesof the Soul: Spiritual Regeneration in New Age Fiction” (Varghese, 2015).

Shiva and Harry, the protagonists of both these works, begin their journey towards the hope of healing with the invitation to a change ‒ physical and emotional. The elements of their trauma experienced in the past, as well as current trials, crop up throughout their entire journey but hope burns eternal and they take the first step towards healing by changing their environment. The healing process is slow, and there are instances where they seem to be shoved backwards, but at the end, both Shiva and Harry have overcome their trauma and found peace and contentment, if not some semblance of happiness.

The real-life implications of these characters’ journeys boiled down to the fundamentals provide a simple solution ‒ removal from the current environment. It is not conducive to healing and would only heap further trauma on the already existing issues and would not allow a person to recover. If it is within one’s power to remove themselves from the hurtful conditions, to do so; if not, there is never only one way to do something. Thinking outside the box could sometimes provide unorthodox situations and if all else fails, there’s great power in asking for help.

Conclusion

But no matter how extensively a fictional character is sculpted, it cannot hope to replicate a live human in its entirety; nor the intricacies of life, no matter how much detail goes into creating the life of that character. This diminishes its relatability to reality and its nuances. Keeping this drawback in mind, this research is an attempt at a pathway into understanding one’s own journey of struggles and potential guidelines in if not overcoming it, then at least living in a wholesome manner with it, through the pseudo-reality of the literary characters as a singular subject of analysis.

While the existing research does grant a peek into the characters that have had their fair share of hardships, failure and trauma; it allows a lot of room for exploration into the long-term effects of trauma, as well as its impact in relation to other characters, society and environment, either experiencing the same event with them or experiencing similar events in another work; as the human psyche is a vast field still in the initial phases of its investigation.

About the authors

Sangeeta Jhajharia

Sri Karan Narendra Agriculture University

Author for correspondence.
Email: drsangeetajhajharia@gmail.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-9989-6887

Assistant Professor

Jobner, Jaipur, Republic of India

Shikha Choudhary

Mody University of Science and Technology

Email: drsangeetajhajharia@gmail.com
Ph.D. Scholar Lakshmangarh, Sikar, Republic of India

References